1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a radio communications system, particularly to a wireless digital communications system, and more particularly to an ultra wide bandwidth (UWB), spread-spectrum, wireless digital communications system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous radio communications techniques for digital data. Most recently, wireless digital communications have been applied to mobile telephone systems, pagers, remote data collection, and wireless networking of computers as well as other applications. One of many books on the subject is “Wireless Digital Communications, Modulation & Spread Spectrum Applications,” by Kamilo Feher. This book and others deal with conventional modulation of a carrier with, for example, phase or frequency shift keying (i.e. FSK, MSK, GMSK, BPSK, DBPSK, QPSK, O-QPSK, FQPSK, π/4-DEQPSK). The American and Japanese cellular standard, for example, uses π/4-DEQPSK. These systems have used either time division multiple access (TDMA) or code division multiple access (CDMA) in order to share the aggregate bandwidth between multiple users. They use either FHSS (frequency hop spread spectrum) or the CDMA codes to spread the spectrum. There remains a need, however, for higher data rates to be accommodated, with simultaneous ability to communicate through barriers such as buildings, walls, or even through soil or through tunnels. The spectrum that is capable of penetrating walls and soil (i.e. frequencies below about 3 GHz), however, is in use. Therefore, there is a need to have a communication system that can coexist in that part of the spectrum where penetration occurs. Current spread-spectrum and narrowband systems cannot coexist with other narrow bandwidth users of the same spectrum due to mutual interference. Too much interference is impinged on the other users, who themselves cause too much interference to the communication system. Typically, high-speed links operate on microwave carriers that are easily blocked by terrain and intervening objects. Prior techniques are based on modulating a carrier frequency. Such a framework assumes that all components, (e.g. the antenna) have a reasonably flat frequency response over the bandwidth used and therefore do not affect the waveform. The present invention does not. They also assume that there are several to many cycles of the carrier between transitions (e.g. zero crossings) in the modulating waveform. Again, the present invention does not. It is this fact that allows the present invention to simultaneously operate at low frequencies, yet resolve multipath, and maintain high data rates. This combination has substantial benefits be low frequencies both penetrate lossy media, and minimize reflections off objects because they become smaller relative to the wavelength. But conventional systems typically have less than 10% bandwidth, and therefore have poor resolution at low frequencies. Furthermore, in contrast to current techniques, the present invention is optimized to not only be robust to multipath, but to take advantage of it.
Other UWB systems have been based on producing and receiving short one-to two cycle impulses at a relatively low duty cycle. Examples include deRosa (U.S. Pat. No. 2,671,896), Robbins (U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,316), Morey (U.S. Pat. No. 3,806,795), Ross and Mara (U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,054), and Fullerton and Kowie (U.S. Pat. No. 5,677,927). Impulses on the order of 1 ns are emitted at a 1 to 10 MHz rate, giving rise to a 100:1 to 1000:1 duty cycle. Due to this poor duty cycle, it is difficult to impossible to generate significant average power efficiently, or in an integrated circuit, because the peak voltages are higher than breakdown voltage of state-of-the-art low voltage CMOS and Bipolar processes. The waveform used in the present invention is, instead, an essentially continuous wave. The prior-art systems also use pseudo-random time intervals between unchanging (essentially identical) pulses, for the purpose of spreading the spectrum conveying information, are used in each of these systems. By contrast, the present invention, while allowing the pulse position to be randomized, communicates information by changing the pulse shape. Yet another difference is interference. The present invention does not require pulse position modulation to make the output power spectrum smooth. Instead, the spectrum is smoothed by the modulation of the pulse shape.